Nvidia has refuted the idea that its GPUs were built with kill switches or backdoors while simultaneously attempting to dissuade politicians suggesting its chips should include features such as location sharing and remote-control.
In a blog, Nvidia chief security officer David Reber argued embedding backdoors and kill switches into its chips “would be a gift to hackers and hostile actors”, undermining global digital infrastructure and fracturing trust in US technology.
He noted to mitigate the risk of misuse, some pundits and politicians proposed requiring hardware to have built-in controls which can remotely disable GPUs without user knowledge and consent, adding some suspect these might already exist.
Until recently, Reber noted established law required companies to fix any security vulnerabilities and the principle still holds.
“There is no such thing as a ‘good’ secret backdoor, only dangerous vulnerabilities that need to be eliminated”, he said. “Product security must always be done in the right way: through rigorous internal testing, independent validation and full compliance with global security standards.”
Implausible
China’s government held a meeting with the company last week to outline its concerns about a US push for its advanced chips to include tracking and positioning features.
Nvidia said there were suggestions “find my phone” or “remote wipe” features on smartphones could be used as models for a GPU kill switch.
However, Nvidia’s security chief said the comparison “doesn’t hold water, optional software features, controlled by the user, are not hardware backdoors”.
“Hardwiring a kill switch into a chip is something entirely different: a permanent flaw beyond user control and an open invitation for disaster”, Reber warned.
Source: Mobile World Live
Image Credit: Nvidia
